Get Unstuck with this approach to risk and impact

How to approach risk and impact to get “unstuck”.

Approach to Risk — a Shirlaws Group tool

Some of the most powerful learning I have had in my career came from being an active part of Shirlaws for years. In addition to deep training as a coach, the business tools and frameworks remain, to my mind, both truly powerful as well as concise and clear. A real favourite is the 2x2 matrix above, a conversation piece used with leadership teams around their vision for the business. I’d often introduce it by talking through the four boxes this way:

• Incremental — low Impact, low Risk. If this was your approach, you wouldn’t have me in the room with you!
• Informational — low Impact, high Risk — often used signal what you will do in the future, it can both get and lose followers. For example, signal you will be net zero by 2040, so get out of your current core business. No real impact today, you may gain some followers, you may lose some by shifting the philosophy of your business (eg auto manufacturers)
• Strategic — High Impact, Low RIsk. For example, at the left hand side of that box you may simply be focussing on where you can do the same things more efficiently.
• Radical — High Impact, HIgh risk. eg Netflix abandoning the DVD rental business while it was still profitable in order to focus all energy on…